With that, he raised one arm and opened his palm, revealing one last vial of black churning magic.
Fuck!
I leapt forward, but before I could stop him, he slammed the vial down on the ground. Coming to a skidding stop, I put my arms up, watching in horror as a massive flying creature swirled out of smoke and erupted from the ground. Its wings hit me hard, throwing me back, but I put my arms down and shot out magic to keep me on my feet. The flying magical creature swung around, and I ducked low, watching as it took flight. It headed straight for the guys, who were all still fighting the stone monsters.
Oh, no, you don’t!
I threw my hand out, sending a stream of magic straight for Wesley’s creature. But my magic wasn’t strong enough. The creature’s wing slapped it away before the blast could hit its body.
“Watch out!” I screamed.
The men all stopped and turned as the flying beast raced toward them. Lachlan put his arms up to defend himself, but even as magic sparked on his fingertips, the flying creature hit him hard in the head with its large talons. Then the creepy winged beast snatched him up in its talons and carried him off into the distance.
My mouth dropped open, my heart thudding so hard in my chest that it felt like it would punch through my ribs. Choking back a pained cry, I raced toward the guys, sending a blast of energy toward Wesley. The fucking coward was already running off in the other direction, following after the last of the competitors as they all fled. They had taken down several of the stone monsters, and the ones that remained showed signs of the fight—their stone bodies were cracked and charred from the blasts they’d taken.
To the east, a cloud of billowing smoke rose up, a pulsating light emanating from it. Everyone was running in that direction, but I couldn’t chase after them. I couldn’t even move. I stood between Trace and Merrick, joining them in holding off the stone monsters as I watched the flying creature disappear off into the distance.
“Lach… Lachlan.” My throat was so tight that it hurt to speak. “We have to go after him.”
Merrick sent out a rope of magic to wrap around a stone creature’s legs. “Of course, we have to. We’ll make Wesley pay for this shit, but that can wait. We need to go after Lach while we can still track him.”
Trace grimaced, wiping sweat off his brow. His shirt was torn, and I could see blood through the rip in the fabric, but it didn’t look like the wound was too bad.
Godsdammit, they’re already getting hurt. I shouldn’t have let them come with me.
“Don’t worry about Lachlan,” Trace said, his voice hard. “He’s a fighter, and by the time we get to him he’ll probably be roasting that bird.”
Normally, I would’ve laughed, but I could tell from the tone of his voice that even he wasn’t quite as confident as he tried to sound. Lachlan had been unconscious or close to it when that bird thing had snatched him up.
I had gotten the guys into this. I had convinced them we needed the answers we would find here, despite the danger we’d put ourselves in just by coming back. I had made them feel like they were part of something bigger. But it was also quite possible that what I had actually done was given them a path straight to their deaths.
Turning back toward Wesley as he disappeared into the distance, I clenched my hands into fists. The walking bag of dicks stopped suddenly and stared directly at me. There was a smirk on his face, and he put two fingers to his forehead, tipping them toward me before running off again. I could feel the blood boiling in my veins, and all I wanted to do was chase after him and rip his head right off his shoulders.
For whatever reason, he had it out for me, and he’d had a plan to take me out from the beginning.
But Merrick was right. Revenge on Wesley would have to wait.
I joined two men beside me in fighting a path through the stone monsters. Our combined magic took out the final beast that stood in our way. As the ground reverberated from the shock of its heavy body, the three of us looked at each other and nodded before taking off through the sand as fast as we could.
It was hotter than hell, hotter than the jungle had been last semester, but nothing was going to keep me from saving Lachlan. Not even that piece of shit Wesley, who had thought for sure he had it in the bag from the beginning.
I hope like hell that when he tries to sleep tonight, he’s plagued by nightmares. I hope he knows I’ll be coming for him.
The only hope Wesley had at this point was to pray that Lachlan was still alive by the time I found him.
If he wasn’t, I swore to the gods and to everyone else who was watching us from the earthly plane, I would make Wesley’s death slow and painful.
Chapter Fourteen
“Look,” Merrick said, pointing up at the sky in the distance. “There it is. I can still see the streaks of smoke following behind that bird thing.”
We had stopped for just a moment to collect our breaths. We’d been running across the shifting sands for what felt like hours as the creature ahead of us went in and out of view.
I nodded and sucked a bunch of air into my lungs, knowing I could keep pushing. I had run longer and harder before, especially when Vin had wanted to teach me a lesson for staying out too late the night before and being late to practice. The only difference here was the fact that I was running through sand, and it was hotter than hell.
“Up ahead,” Trace replied, nodding toward the horizon. “It looks like a forest. Hopefully it’ll be a little bit cooler there.”
I grimaced, wiping sweat off my brow. “It might be hot out here, but at least we can see in all directions. In there, we’re going to have to look out for a whole other level of things trying to eat us.” Then I shook my head determinedly. “Doesn’t matter, Lachlan needs us. Come on.”
The three of us picked up the pace again, running toward the slowly creeping foliage that led into the forest. The leaves were larger than anything I’d seen on our last trip here, and the vines that wrapped around the tree trunks were thick and covered in spines. We all called upon our magic, creating weapons that could push through the thick undergrowth as quickly as possible.
I’d been right. There were multiple threats hiding in the thick foliage. Nothing like the stone monsters we’d encountered on our arrival—the new threats came in the form of man eating plants and insects that darted back and forth, attempting to take a bite out of each of us.
But there was no time to stop.
We swung our magical weapons, fighting them off as they appeared, trying to keep our feet moving as fast as possible. It was harder to keep an eye on the bird up above with the thick leaves and swaying limbs of the trees over our heads, but we managed to follow the bird-like creature up a large embankment and into a clearing.
Both Merrick and Trace put their arms out, slowing me to a stop. I looked over at them, slightly confused. “What?” I gasped. “What are we stopping for?”
Merrick pointed straight up into the sky. I squinted upward, trying to find the bird within the bright streaking light of the sun. It was directly above us, and I could just barely make out Lachlan’s form clutched in its talons.
“There’s something wrong with the bird,” Trace said, hope mingling with fear in his voice. “It looks like it’s struggling.”